By Morgan Burkett
The Greenville Advocate

Organizers of Butler County’s Distinguished Young Women program have big news.

“We have all been so excited to finally tell everyone that Butler County DYW and Lowndes County DYW will be a joint program this year,” said Starla Jones, director of Butler County DYW.

While the two counties will hold heir programs on the same night, each will still name its own Distinguished Young Woman.

According to Jones, several counties in Alabama join programs to make the event more exciting and bring in more participants.

“This is such a unique program for these young women to participate in, and now we have found a way for several girls to connect with other women to create more friendships,” said Jones.

The program will be held on Aug. 1. Practices will begin on July 24.

DYW is a scholarship program that was founded in 1958 in Mobile. It is the largest and oldest national scholarship program for high school girls, and has awarded more than $93 million in cash scholarships at the local, state and national levels since its creation.

In addition to cash scholarships, Distinguished Young Women participants are eligible for college-granted scholarships from almost 200 colleges and universities. According to the DYW website, more than $108 million in college scholarship opportunities were provided to DYW participants last year, some of which included full tuition, room, and board.

Contestants will compete in five categories: scholastics, interview, talent, fitness and self-expression.

The interview and talent portions of the competition will count for 25 percent of the contestant’s score, while the scholastics portion will count for 20 percent and fitness and self-expression will each count for 15 percent of the overall score.

The national organizers have also decided to add in Life Skills Workshops to the program. Each practice, the girls will have a time slot where they are taught more about interview skills, college application processes, scholarships, and more.

“The Life Skills Workshop is added so that the Be Your Best Self Program will have even more meaning,” said Jones.

The deadline to register for the Butler County competition is June 1. To register, visit www.distinguishedyw.org and the form is located under the ‘Participate’ link.

Upcoming juniors are asked to sign up as little sisters by contacting Jones.

For more information contact Jones at  (334) 301-5403 or by email at skjones@centurytel.net.